Introduction to Group Interventions for Trauma Survivors

Group interventions for trauma survivors offer cost-efficient opportunities for members to join "fellow strugglers" in coping with trauma-related feelings of alienation and mistrust. For adults, supportive, psychodynamic, and cognitive-behavioral models have been described in the literature, each offering common as well as unique group therapy features. For older children and adolescents, integrated and cognitive-behavioral models are available, and there is general empirical support for the use of group therapy regardless of the model chosen. Group psychological debriefing immediately following trauma exposure may be useful for normalizing reactions, but evidence for its effectiveness in preventing trauma-related psychopathology is lacking.